Palau believes ocean health should be included in the post-2015 agenda

The Pacific island nation of Palau wants to harness the power of social media to benefit the world's oceans.

Stuart Beck, the country's ambassador to the UN, says oceans should be part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will dominate the global development agenda in the coming years.

He says although issues such as ocean acidification and declining fish stocks are well known, not much is being done to address them.

"We can't achieve these objectives until the world commits itself to do this work in the oceans and to do it in a sustainable way, and the SDG process is an opportunity which comes along but once in our lifetime and we want to make sure that we take advantage of it."

Ambassador Beck says Palau has created shark sanctuaries, banned bottom trawling and established protected areas in its waters.

But he says "one small country in the middle of the Pacific" will not be able to determine the fate of the oceans, therefore global action is needed.